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To a Gentlewoman Objecting To Him His Gray Hairs

by Robert Herrick, 1648

Am I despised because you say,
  And I dare swear, that I am gray?
  Know, lady, you have but your day:
  And time will come when you shall wear
  Such frost and snow upon your hair;
  And when (though long, it comes to pass)
  You question with your looking-glass;
  And in that sincere crystal seek,
  But find no rose-bud in your cheek:
  Nor any bed to give the show
  Where such a rare carnation grew.
Ah! then too late, close in your chamber keeping,
      It will be told
      That you are old,
By those true tears y’are weeping.

Published in Hesperides
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